


Turnabout Is Fair Play

by heeroluva



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mention of Past Suicidal Ideations, Minor Body Horror, Synthesis Ending, Telepathic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-16 21:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4641498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/pseuds/heeroluva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Synthesis brings about way more than the obvious outward changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turnabout Is Fair Play

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



There was a time when Cortez hadn’t expected to survive the war, and even a point that he honestly hadn’t wanted to, though that time had long since passed. There was a time when he hadn’t been able to imagine a happy ending, that he thought that there was no way the galaxy could get their collective heads out of their collective asses and work together. Boy, had he never been happier to be proven wrong.

Cortez had imagined a lot of endings, but even two months later he still had a hard time wrapping his mind around _this_ , whatever this was. (Synthesis was the official name, but really that meant nothing to him.) Despite the weeks that had passed since it had happened, Cortez still caught himself examining his hands with fascination, wondering why he wasn’t freaking out about the glowing green circuitry under his skin. More times than Cortez cared to admit, he'd jumped at the site of his reflection, the way his eyes glowed brighter than the circuity running under his skin. He knew with certainty that they hadn’t been there before the Crucible had fired, before the green light had crashed over everyone and everything, but they felt like they’d always been a part of him. He knew the exact temperature and time, the chemical composition of the air he was breathing and the dirt on his skin. He knew his blood pressure and heart rate were dangerously high, and maybe Cortez was freaking out a little bit.

Could Cortez really be blamed when even the top scientific minds in the galaxy didn’t have answers about what exactly the Crucible had done? And it wasn’t just what Cortez _knew_ that was so strange, but also what he could _feel_. Or rather who he could feel: every living thing in his vicinity, be it the weeds clinging tenaciously to life amidst the ruins of the city, the civilians he was shuttling supplies to, or the husks helping in the cleanup effort (how fucking strange was that?). It wasn’t telepathy, but an awareness as though they were all jacked into the same network. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t freaking out.

It was Vega’s touch that suddenly calmed him down, like a soothing balm on raw wound, Vega _who was at least fifty klicks away from his location._

[ _Freak out later, Esteban,_ ] Vega’s amused voice drawled in Cortez’ head.

And that was another fucking weird thing, the bonds, _telepathic_ bonds, that had begun to form between people, mostly pairs, but Cortez had heard of some triads, tetrads, and even one quintet. For the most part, they seemed to be spontaneous, not even based on touch or proximity, and formed regardless of such things as gender, sexuality, or even race. Cortez shuddered at the thought of having bonded to a husk. It didn’t matter that he could feel how much they wanted to help, but he’d never be one hundred percent comfortable sharing space with the things that wore the same face of beings that had spent so much time to kill him and his.

(Cortez didn’t let himself think about the fact that one of them might have been his husband. Wasn’t sure if that was worse than if he or one of his teammates had killed it. Not thinking about it didn’t keep the nightmares at bay.)

Bonds didn’t necessarily seem to be sexual, the latest reports being about people picking up a second bond with another person, even one squad bonding, and Cortez was one hundred percent certain that those guys weren’t boning.

He and Vega hadn’t been one of the spontaneous bonds. Or it had been spontaneous all right, but it certainly hadn’t just happened over a distance or with barely a touch. No, Cortez had been balls deep in Vega, mid-orgasm when their brains had decided to connect. They’d both blacked out from the feedback loop of their shared pleasure, their nervous systems unable to process the sudden doubling of information to process.

Waking up had been… disorienting… to say the least, and even Vega, who always so easily adapted to the situation and the people involved, had been thrown for a loop. Of course, it was Vega who got over it first, who tested the limits of their bond, his fascination and excitement bleeding over, making it impossible for Cortez to ignore, impossible not to be pulled along for one crazy ride.

At first it had been strange, stranger even than the constant awareness of people around him. That he’d learned to block out, but with Vega that was impossible. He was always there, larger than life. And now Cortez couldn’t imagine a life without him there. The recent news that bonds might not be as permanent as initially believed, filled him with dread. There were confirmed reports of bonds dissolving as quickly as they formed, of bonds that lasted for weeks before slowly fizzling out.

Compatibility, the scientists said. They didn’t know if it was chemical or electrical or some mixture of both or neither, but whatever sparked the formation of bonds, seemed to be based on compatibility. And it seemed that sometimes it was wrong.

Cortez couldn’t help but worry; it was in his nature. What if they were wrong together? What if their bond dissolved?

[ _Hey now, Esteban, you ain’t going to be rid of me that easily. You and me, this is the long haul. Even if the bond doesn’t last—not saying that’s going to happen—we’re the real thing. Doesn’t matter what anyone else says._ ] 

Vega’s warm affection washed over him, and Cortez reached out, wrapping himself around Cortez, filling him up. [ _Going to tell the others what a sap you are._ ]

[ _Oh,_ I’m _the sap, eh? Sure you got that right, Esteban?_ ]

[ _My sap,_ ] Cortez teased. [ _Perfect. Promise not to trade you in for an upgrade._ ]

Cortez gasped at the rush of feelings.

[ _You’re too good for me, Esteban. Don’t know what I ever did to deserve you._ ] 

[ _Well you did help save the world._ ] 

[ _I just shot stuff. You did most of the heavy lifting. Some of those maneuvers you pulled with the shuttle shouldn’t have been possible._ ] 

Laughing, Cortez adjusted himself, glad that he didn’t have company in the transport shuttle today. [ _Only you would get hot and bothered over a shuttle._ ]

[ _Not just_ any _shuttle. Only a shuttle flown by_ you.]

The image of Vega riding him in this very seat was vivid enough to pass through the bond, and Cortez gasped before he mentally snapped, [ _Not while I’m working!_ ]

[ _Tonight?_ ] Vega asked.

[ _If you’re good._ ] Cortez retorted, imagining Vega spread out, body gleaming with sweat as he worked him over.

Cortez laughed at Vega’s groan. Turnabout was fair play.


End file.
